Pasta E Ceci (pasta And Chickpeas)

Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 4 ounces smoked pancetta, diced (or bacon)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, small dice
• 1 stalk celery, small dice
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 ounce pimiento, diced (or roasted red peppers)
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or 1/8-1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon anchovy paste (optional)
• 1 (796 ml) can diced tomatoes (3-4 cups)
• 1 (156 ml) can tomato paste
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1 1/2 cups small-cut pasta (or broken long-cut pasta, shells, ditalini, broken spaghetti, etc)
• salt and pepper
• water

Recipe

• 1 in a large, heavy-bottomed pot, add olive oil, and begin to saute the pancetta or bacon over medium-high heat. when sufficiently browned, remove all but 2 tsp or so of the fat.
• 2 add onions and celery, sweat three minutes or so until they soften, add garlic, cook 1 minute or until fragrant. add pimento (or roasted red peppers), cook for a minute or so, then stir in hot pepper flakes (or cayenne), and anchovy paste, if you’re using it.
• 3 add tomatoes, paste, and chicken broth, stirring until tomato paste is smooth. add sugar, bay leaf and basil. make sure it comes to a simmer if it already isn’t, then turn heat down to medium-low, cover and let simmer for at least 40 minutes or so, stirring fairly frequently.
• 4 add pasta, and a little extra water if needed (i went with a bit under 1.5 cups of additional water), stir, and simmer, till pasta is tender. you will need to stir pretty frequently, or else surrender yourself to bottom-stick-stew.
• 5 top with some parmesan or romano.